ADEA CCI Liaison Ledger

Dr. Stein may be a dentist by training, but you wouldn't know it
to look at the list of courses she teaches. Anatomy &
Physiology for Nursing Students, Local Anesthesia for Emergency
Physicians, and Gross Anatomy for Dental Students make up a typical
sampling of her yearly offerings. It all makes sense when you
realize that Dr. Stein is Assistant Professor of Anatomy and
Neurobiology in the College of Medicine at the University of
Kentucky (UK), which has actively embraced interprofessionalism
(see Campus Spotlight).

Dr. Stein says she loves teaching anatomy, and that's a good
thing. The UK College of Medicine is responsible for teaching
anatomy to everyone at the university. When the College of Nursing
requested a course tailored specifically for its undergraduates,
Dr. Stein was tapped to develop a year-long sequence. She and her
dental colleagues also developed a program, available on CD-ROM and
via MedEdPORTAL, to teach
local anesthesia to residents in emergency medicine. Knowing that
intraoral injection is less painful, more effective, and longer
lasting than facial injection prompted them to share their
knowledge and techniques with emergency room physicians who
frequently need to treat facial wounds.

"It was exciting to have a dialogue with the residents. Their
concerns were not what I expected. They see lots of patients with
severe tooth pain, and wanted to know even more about providing
anesthesia in the mouth."

Dr. Stein would like to develop a second program to teach the
injections that work most effectively for tooth pain. She is also
eager to spread the word to physicians about the ramifications of
poor oral health.

"When it comes to patient care, I think it's best when it's done
collaboratively. The trend is moving in that direction, but we're
not doing it well yet. Dentists are rarely part of the team despite
the fact that poor oral health has proven systemic impacts."